martinstanley

He was indeed amazing. I heard Douglas Fox play at an IAO Congress in the Colston Hall Bristol in the 60's. He picked and cleverly rearranged pieces so he could play them with left hand and two feet. I also remember he broadcast from there in the days when the BBC broadcast organ recitals. I subsequently turned pages for him at a recital in the Lord Mayor's Chapel Bristol which I seem to remember was quite daunting because at frequent points one had to cancel all pedal stops so he could play manual parts with his left hand and right foot. I think there was an embarrassing moment (probably for me rather then him) during rehearsal when I heard myself say said something like "Oh, you plan to play with both hands at this point"! The story I was told was that when he was in hospital having lost his arm in action during WW1 the organist of Westminster abbey wrote to him to say he had just played evensong without using his right arm and it could be done.

The Kingsway Hall organ is featured on an EMI Great Recordings of the Century CD produced in 1991 featuring performances by George Thalben-Ball on a number of instruments. The tracks recorded in KH are a Handel arr. Henry Wood organ concerto with a last movement cadenza by GTB that I presume gives a fair representaiton of the instrument and is almost as long as the movement itself. When I got the disk out I had forgotten it also included a remarkable one-in-a bar performance of Bach's Toccata in F from BBC Studios at Maida Vale – unidiomatic with reeds and swell box crescendos but exciting no the less.

Did anyone listen to the short discussion on the Choir on Radio 3 regarding singing of psalms? The program included a short discussion by Aled Jones, Jeremy Summerly and Sarah Baldock including several examples to illustrate points made. It can be heard on Listen Again (until this coming Sunday)http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml and click through to Radio 3 and The Choir, about 20 minutes in with specific reference to Anglican pointing and chants and reference to colouring of text with organ accompaniment 36 minutes into the broadcast. This included technical references to Full Swell and 32' reeds!

I don't know if you have access to JSTOR at Bournemouth (I don't) but this looks like an obituary in Musical Times in 1901 and might give you something of interest - http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0958-8434...TOR-enlargePage

James E Fraser's recent comprehensive and well-researched biography Maurice Durufle the Man and his Music makes only a brief mention of this piece adding little to that you have already detailed and does not provide anything on different forms.

Sorry I can't help (it was forty years ago) except I remember hearing it at Westminster Cathedral, that it was long and dissonant, and could not understand what it was about. This extract from John Lambert's obituary in The Independant gives some indication of general style - "The crucial work in Lambert's output at this period was the Organ Mass, composed over a five-year period from 1964 to 1968, which traces his path through serial techniques towards a more experimental manner".

If it is the work I am thinking of I heard it in Westminster Cathedral many years ago (I guess 1968-70) in the days when they held regular mid-week recitals. It was not a pleasant experience or one I would wish to repeat. I can't remember who performed it but I probably have the programme in my loft so next time I am up there I will try and dig it out. Along with Cynic my sympathies would go with your congregation!

I knew I had seen information about this somewhere! The Positive, Recit and Solo Bombarde were moved around in 1903 according to Daniel Roth in this video clip (about 3 minutes into it). According the Daniel Roth it was the development of the repertoire using the Recit in Widor and Vierne that brought about the change. http://blip.tv/file/62592

I was in Oxford yesterday and after hearing the Frobenius in The Queen's College (wonderful) I wandered into St John's as it was open to visitors. I regret I did not hear the organ but the casework and craftsmanship is just stunning. To my irritation the battery in my camera was flat.

Re BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong broadcasts The title of this topic from the past is a negative one whereas the link to this press release which I picked up from another group possibly turns it into a positive one! In summary Choral Evensong returns in September to Wednesdays with a repeat on Sundays. Not sure about the benefits they mention of Listen Again - I can never get the quality to make it worthwhle. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressrele.../evensong.shtml

Re Mastermind and Herbert Howells the programme is available here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00...on_pid=b008x90t where it is available for one week. If you have not used this facility before you may have to register here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

1) Robert Quinney at Westminster Cathedral 2) The Organ of Romsey Abbey - David Coram (my purchase arrived just before Christmas so counts for the wonderful instrument and committed performance) 3) Durufle Complete Organ Music - Henry Fairs at Notre-Dame d'Auteuil, Paris (Naxos also available as download on eMusic) A non-organ CD - Bruckner Mass in e min and Motets - Polyphony & Stephen Layton for superb choral singing. I did not purchase many CDs in 2007 as shelf capacity has been reached but a way around this has been downloading from eMusic.com (£8.99 per month for 40 tracks). An absolute treasure trove here once you get the hang of the search facility, including a lot of the Lammas catalogue. Four tracks that get played frequently are from Sounds Orchestral - duet transcription of Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony played at Blackburn Cathedral by Greg Morris and David Gibbs - an exuberant performance to cheer up a wet afternoon.

I agree with VH having derived much pleasure from this CD. Although I have not heard the Romsey Abbey live it comes across in this recording as a delightful instrument with committed and very musical performances. I especially liked the Warlock Capriol Suite. Recommended.

At the end of the broadcast the BBC said it was recorded earlier this year. There are more examples of this superb choir on the St. Thomas church web site http://www.saintthomaschurch.org/Stream.html

Obituary in yesterday's Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/o...icle3012821.ece

I am fairly certain I heard Kevin Bowyer play it in his Warwick days but I may be wrong as he played a lot of modern music, some of it made more difficult to digest by the organ of St Mary's Warwick, since slightly tamed! From his web site at http://www.kevinbowyer.net/ I found a recording at http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...030XK/tactus-21 . Hope this helps.

As predicted in earlier posts the new Bristol Cathedral web site http://www.bristol-cathedral.co.uk/index.php?id=32 provides a lot more information about the organ that I have not seen before, particularly regarding the extent of the Vowles pipework retained in the 1907 Walker rebuild.

I was about to write that it depends on what market you are going for with your CD but of course a purchaser of a CD usually buys it without getting to look at the inside of the liner so it is not part of the sales process but additional information once they start listening. With a 'mixed bag' programme I would expect something about the music being played, the organ and anything unusual about it including the specification, and the performer. Also, I suggest you try and avoid fancy artwork that makes reading the text difficult (e.g. Pulling Out All The Stops - TT at Symphony Hall, Birmingham). I find that in general apart from specifications the technical detail is limited, but if you want to go technical I found one of the most fascinating inlays was the David Briggs CD Bach at Gloucester where for each item he provided detailed registrations (that were far from straightforward). Although I have not heard it I believe you have a unique and very interesting instrument at Romsey and as far as I know there are no available recordings so look forward to hearing it even though I have (over)reached shelf capacity and have been banned from making further purchases Good luck with it.

The problem is 800 is a good crowd for an organ recital, and about the average for the RAH, but looks so sparse in the building. I did not go to TT's RAH concert as after several visits I find the RAH organ unpleasant and overblown, but I did attend the Birmingham recital the previous Monday given to a near capacity audience (Town Hall capacity 1100 I beleive). It is the first time (and probably last) I have queued for nearly 45 minutes to get a ticket to an organ recital. If they want to keep their audiences they need to find a better way of selling tickets - long queue with three sales people using computerised ticket system whereas because they were unreserved tickets all it needed was someone collecting £5 notes at the door. Sorry to disagree but I found the restored Birmingham Town Hall instrument a much more attactive experience than the RAH.

I went to this concert on Tuesday and congratulations to all concerned especially the Bristol & District Organists Association (BDOA) for trying to keep this instrument going. I had not heard it for 40+ years and forgotten how magnificent and colourful it is. As Ian says in his original post - great flue choruses, strings galore, orchestral voices etc. Both console and hall are however looking a bit worse for wear. It was an excellent evening all round. Without denigrating the other performers who showed off mainly the choruses, Ian Ball lifted the programme to a new level by demontrating the orchestral side of the instrument in the Wagner/Lemare transcription of the Liebstod from Tristan and Isolde and then gave a stunning performance of the final movement of Symphony 3 Saint-Saens, arr Briggs, both of which put the recently installed 'capture' system (as I understand it partly funded by BDOA) to full use. I gather this is an annual event run by BDOA providing a rare outing for this magnificent instrument. I also went and heard great performances of Stanford and Elgar played by Paul Walton in Bristol Cathedral at lunchtime that fitted the organ like a glove, and the cathedral choir singing Sumsion and Bainton at evensong. Quite a day!

This may be a long shot, but I think you are right that it was in the Cranmer Catherdral Organist collection. I don't have it but a few years ago I tried to track down Clifford Harker's Rouen Processional which I think was in the same book but was making little progress until I went and knocked on the door of Cranmer's office (first floor - no shop) in Garrick Street (details here http://www.mpaonline.org.uk/About/members/..._Music_Ltd.html ) and a nice chap said it was out of print but printed me a copy for a small fee. I did not think at the time to get the rest of the collection. You could always try.

Yes, this one has to go on a list as being both loud and unpleasant even though there was an attempt to tame it a few ago.

Obituary in The Times yesterday http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/o...icle2492040.ece

Having heard both the first and last of these recently I thought Westminster Cathedral thrilling but the RAH at full tilt is just unpleasant and uncomfortable, especially the GO reeds.

I suspect the reason he was chosen to play this programme was that he has recently presented the entire works of Buxtehude at St Thomas New York. There are some details and downloads to be found here http://www.saintthomaschurch.org/stream-Bux.html (could not manage to turn this into a link!) Whilst accepting that the RAH organ is not suitable for Buxtehude, the concert was an opportunity for many who would probably not go near an organ recital to experience a selection of Buxtehude's music in this anniiversary year. Like others I found the BBC Listen Again service very poor for music, although I have found it possible to get improved quality in the early hours of the morning.